On October 29, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a death penal­ty case from Texas to deter­mine whether inmates there can raise claims of inad­e­quate tri­al rep­re­sen­ta­tion in fed­er­al court if they were effec­tive­ly pre­vent­ed from rais­ing such a claim in their state appeal by the fur­ther fail­ure of their appel­late lawyers. Lower courts con­sid­er­ing this issue have held that an ear­li­er Supreme Court rul­ing, Martinez v. Ryan (2012), which pro­vid­ed such a right in an Arizona case, does not apply in Texas because defen­dants have mul­ti­ple oppor­tu­ni­ties to claim their lawyers failed them. The case is Trevino v. Thaler. Carlos Trevino’s cur­rent lawyers argue that there was a great deal of mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence that the tri­al lawyers failed to find and present at tri­al. The case will prob­a­bly be argued ear­ly next year.

(M. Chammah, ​“Supreme Court to Hear Texas Death Row Inmate’s Case,” Texas Tribune, October 29, 2012; Trevino v. Thaler, No. 11 – 10189, cert. grant­ed Oct. 29, 2012). See Representation and Supreme Court. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on the Supreme Court.

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